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Monday, June 25, 2007

Making Room for Bikes on Trains (and Everywhere Else)The movement to promote bicycle commuting in conjunction with train travel is growing all over the nation, but fighting for bicycles remains a guerrilla action in car-crazy America. While the U.S. has the highest per-capita bicycle ownership in the world, according to the League of American Bicyclists, automobiles are used for more than 95 percent of our trips.

Only three million Americans say they ride their bikes "frequently," meaning more than 14 or 15 times a year. According to Alex Campbell, a spokesperson for leading electric bicycle maker Zap, as many as 120 million bikes sit forlornly on flat tires, waiting for riders. In the U.S., bicycles are overwhelmingly used for recreation and exercise, not for commuting. (Read more.)

This commentary is a general appeal for greater multimodal train access for bicyclists, especially in the metropolitan New York area. The article's broad focus cites examples of bicycling successes from San Francisco and elsewhere.